JP2006510091A - Method and apparatus for retrieving data in a peer-to-peer network - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for more efficiently searching a peer-to-peer network for data. Large peer-to-peer networks have millions of peer clients, or simply short peers, with a vast amount of available data objects. Searching for all peers takes a lot of time, so a small group (private network) is thus formed in the peer-to-peer network. Peers for this private network are selected if they meet at least one criterion. This criterion relates to, for example, the participation of the peer in a data supply service or the search query. The private network or networks may be formed at the start-up of the device according to the invention or immediately after submitting a search query.

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for retrieving data in a peer-to-peer network connecting peers, wherein the peer is enabled to store data objects received from a data source. . The present invention further includes a computer programmed to execute means for retrieving data in a peer-to-peer network connecting peers, wherein the peer stores data objects received from a data source. It relates to a computer which is made possible to do.

  The invention also relates to an apparatus for retrieving data in a peer-to-peer network connecting peers, comprising a receiver unit for receiving a data object from a data source and a storage device for storing said data object. Related.

  Furthermore, the present invention allows a computer to be programmed and to perform a method for retrieving data in a peer-to-peer network connecting peers, wherein the peer is from a data source. The present invention relates to a computer program product that is capable of storing received data objects.

  Peer-to-peer networks are popular networks for sharing data. One of the most popular peer-to-peer services currently known is Sharman Networks' KaZaa. This service allows data objects such as audio / visual content to be shared over a peer-to-peer network with more than one million users. The great advantage of such a large network is that, through this service, many different contents are widely available for transfer from one peer client (or peer) to another. That is.

  However, one problem is that as the size of the network grows, the search speed decreases as more and more peers must be searched for data.

  An object of the present invention is to reduce the search effort of searching for data objects in a peer-to-peer network.

  This object is achieved by a method according to the invention, the method comprising submitting a search query from a first peer and at least one further peer and private network connected to the peer-to-peer network. Forming, at this time, the further peer meeting at least one criterion and retrieving a data object stored by a peer connected by the private network; At this time, the data includes the step of matching the search query and the step of returning the result of the search executed in the previous step to the first peer.

  By limiting the group of peers that are searched for content, the search effort in peer-to-peer networks can be significantly reduced. This can not make a big difference in the results because in most search requests, only a few peers need to be searched for the requested data. This is because only a very clear and identifiable group of peers has the requested data available, or the requested data is widely available and search during a random selection of peers This is because either of them gives the retrieved data.

  An embodiment of the method according to the invention is enabled for a peer to subscribe to at least one data supply service and to store data objects received from said data supply service. And the criterion is a subscription to at least one data supply service to which the first peer is similarly subscribed.

  Providers of data supply services, especially audio / visual data, are not very pleased with the unlimited distribution of the content they provide. Thus, only peers that preferably have the same at least one subscription as the peer submitting the search query are searched for data that matches the search query.

  In a further embodiment of the method according to the invention, the criterion is derived from the search query and the private network is formed after submission of this search query.

  By forming a private network with criteria derived from a search query, a more likely network to find content matching the search query can be formed.

  Another embodiment of the method according to the invention has only the data objects whose search results matched the query and have been received from at least one content provisioning service to which the first peer has subscribed.

  In this way, only search results related to content that the searching peers themselves could remember (i.e. paid, but not returned due to lack of time, for example) are returned. Is done.

  A further aspect of the invention provides a computer programmed to perform the method of claim 1.

  A still further aspect of the invention provides an apparatus for retrieving data in a peer-to-peer network connecting peers, the apparatus comprising a receiving unit for receiving a data object from a data source, and the data A storage device for storing objects and a central processing unit, and the device forms a private network with at least one further peer connected by a peer-to-peer network, at which time said A further peer satisfies at least one criterion, submits a search query to the private network, receives a result from the further peer, and is then programmed so that the result matches the query.

  Another aspect of the present invention provides a computer program product for programming a computer and enabling the computer to perform the method of claim 1.

  Further details of the invention will be described in the following description of preferred and other embodiments of the invention using the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows a consumer electronic device system 100 having a video recorder 110, a television set 150, and a control device 160 as an embodiment of the device according to the present invention. Video recorder 110 is configured to record an interactive application and audio / visual data stream associated with the stream of audio / visual data carried by signal 170.

  Here, video recorder 110 is a central processing unit such as a receiver 120 that receives signal 170, a demultiplexer 122, a video processor 124, and a microprocessor that controls the components possessed by biode recorder 110. 126, a storage device 128, a program code memory 130, a user command receiver 132, and a central bus 134 that connects the components possessed by the video recorder 110.

  The video recorder further comprises a network interface unit 140 that connects to a network such as the Internet. The network interface unit 140 may be embodied as an analog modem, ISDN, DSL or cable modem or UTP / Ethernet network interface.

  Receiver 120 is tuned to one television channel and is configured to extract data for this television channel from signal 170. Signal 170 may be received by any known method such as cable, terrestrial, satellite, broadband network connection, or any other method of delivering audio / visual data. The signal 170 can also be derived from the output of another consumer electronics device.

  Data stored in the program code memory 130 enables the microprocessor 126 to perform the method according to the present invention. Program code memory 130 may be embodied as a flash EEPROM, ROM, optical disk, or any other type of data transport medium.

  The storage device stores content received by either the receiver 120 or the network interface unit 140 for future reproduction on the television 150 or for further distribution via the network interface unit 140. Configured. The content can be processed before the storing step.

  Further distribution of stored content is preferably done via the peer-to-peer network 200. Peer-to-peer network 200 has various peer-to-peer clients that are all enabled to store data objects such as content received from broadcast providers. Peer 210 contacts other peers at startup by sending messages to rendezvous peer 220. Rendezvous peer 220 provides information about other peers in the peer-to-peer network so that peer 210 can connect to peer network 200.

  The peers communicate with each other (preferably via the Internet) by sending messages to either each other or to the superpeer 230, in the latter case configuring sub-networks in the peer-to-peer network . Communication within the network is possible from any peer to any peer. The connection between each independent piano is not drawn for clarity.

  Popular peer-to-peer networks such as KaZaa and Gnutella are used to share data. This data can be retrieved. However, the problem with this type of network is that it can be very large, hindering search speed.

  On the other hand, in most search requests, only a few peers need to be searched for the requested data. This is because only a fairly specific group of identifiable peers has the requested data available, or the requested data is widely available and search in a random selection of peers This is because of either of the reasons given.

  Therefore, it is advantageous to select a selection from a very large peer-to-peer network 200 that meets the needs of the users of the peer-to-peer network 200. Here, private 240 is formed within peer-to-peer network 200. In accordance with the present invention, private network 240 is formed by peers that meet at least one criterion.

  In accordance with the embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 3, the criteria are derived from the search query. For example, a user of peer 310 in peer-to-peer network 300 enters a search query related to spy movies. Next, the private network 320 is formed by a user who provides spy movies to download via the peer-to-peer network 300. Perhaps not all peers in peer-to-peer network 300 provide spy movies for download, so the search effort is greatly reduced.

  In an embodiment of the present invention, information about which client has which genre of content is managed by the genre server 350. The genre server receives a query from the user of peer 310 and checks whether this query is related to the genre itself or whether there is a genre to which the query is related. For example, the query “die, another, day” relates to the genre of spy movies. Next, the peers of peer-to-peer network 300 search to see if these peers provide spy movies for download. This can be done either by receiving a search query or by managing a genre table 355 in the genre server 350. The genre table 355 has information regarding which peers provide which genres. When the private network 320 is formed, a complete search is performed within the private network 320.

  In accordance with a further embodiment of the present invention, each peer of peer-to-peer network 300 comprises a table having information regarding the genres that are available at each peer.

  If the query has only one genre, this embodiment of the method according to the invention may speed up the search process. Instead of searching each peer for available spy movies, only one server needs to be queried. And even if the tables at all peers need to be verified, this is done faster than searching all the content provided by the peers, just by searching the genre table. obtain. Information about the genre of the content is preferably obtained by analyzing meta data associated with the content. Preferably, this meta data is received with the content.

  In yet a further embodiment of the invention, the content is received from a data supply service that the user needs to subscribe or is automatically subscribed to. Providers of such services prefer to limit the distribution of data provided by these providers. Even if these providers allow data distribution, they may only allow distribution among users who subscribe to the service of these providers.

  In accordance with this embodiment of the present invention, the criterion for selecting a peer with respect to a private network that retrieves data is the data provisioning service to which the peer is subscribed. For example, if a peer (more obviously, the user of the peer) is subscribed to public broadcast services in CNN, BBC and the Netherlands, the search query is subscribed to at least one of these three content supply services. Only submitted to peers. Here, the private network is formed from three groups of peers, as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 4 shows a peer group having a first group 410 of peers subscribed to the CNN, a second group 420 of peers subscribed to the BBC, and a third group 430 of peers subscribed to the Dutch public broadcasting service. A two peer network 400 is shown. The first peer 405 is a member of all three groups. When the first peer 405 submits a search query, only the private network that has the eight peers included by the three groups is searched for data objects that match the search query.

  In a still further embodiment of the present invention, only results associated with data objects received from data supply services of which the first peer is a member are returned. The second peer 406 is a member of the fourth group 440 of peers that have joined Canal +. If the first peer submits a query about spy movies and the second peer has the movie “XXX” available, then this data object was received and stored from Canal +, so this Cannot be seen in the results returned to the peer.

  Content can be identified using meta data. Meta data is associated with a data object. For television programs, a content description format such as TV / Anytime or MPEG-7 may be used.

  TV anytime metadata provides a content reference identifier, or CRID, that has information about the origin of the data object. Further, the content reference identifier points to a document that provides further information about the data object. The CRID has the following format: crid: // DNS-entry / path / filename. The data supply service can be identified at that time via the CRID. For example, grid: // bbc. co. A CRID such as uk / films / TheHill identifies the data supply service as a BBC.

  For genre information, the document pointed to by the CRID (or another URL in the meta data associated with the data object) can be analyzed.

  Various modifications of the queried embodiments can be provided without departing from the scope of the invention.

  One variation is that further subgroups can be formed within the private network. For example, a private network of “movies” may be provided with subgroups of “spy movies”, “thrillers”, and “dramas”. One peer may also be a member of a multiple private network, as shown in FIG.

  In addition, various other types of data can be retrieved using the method according to the present invention. In addition to movies, other types of audio / visual data can also be retrieved. Even data objects such as electronic books can be retrieved using the method according to the invention and embodiments of the invention.

  The present invention provides a method and apparatus for more efficiently searching a peer-to-peer network for data. Large peer-to-peer networks have millions of peer clients, or just short peers, with a huge amount of available data objects. Since searching for all peers takes a lot of time, a small group (private network) is formed in the peer-to-peer network. Peers for this private network are selected if these peers meet at least one criterion. This criterion relates to, for example, the participation of a peer in a data supply service or a search query. A private network or multiple networks may be formed at the start-up of the device according to the invention or immediately after submitting the search query.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of an apparatus according to the invention. FIG. 2 shows a peer-to-peer network illustrating an embodiment according to the present invention. FIG. 3 shows another peer-to-peer network illustrating another embodiment according to the present invention. FIG. 4 shows a further peer-to-peer network illustrating a further embodiment of the method according to the invention.

Claims (14)

A method for retrieving data in a peer-to-peer network connecting peers, wherein the peer is enabled to store data objects received from a data source, the method comprising:
(A) submitting a search query from a first peer;
(B) forming a private network with at least one further peer connected to said peer-to-peer network, wherein said further peer is determined by said first peer A step that meets the criteria,
(C) retrieving a data object stored by a peer connected by the private network, the data matching the search query;
(D) returning the result of the search executed in the previous step to the first step;
Having a method. The method of claim 1, comprising:
(A) enabled for a peer to subscribe to at least one data supply service and to store data objects received from said data supply service;
(B) the criterion is a subscription to at least one data supply service, in which the first peer is also subscribed,
Method.   The method of claim 1, wherein the criterion is derived from the search query and the private network is formed after submission of the search query.   The method of claim 2, wherein the data supply service is a broadcast service provider and the data object is a stream of audio / visual data.   The method of claim 1, wherein the data objects have meta data associated with the data objects, and retrieving the data objects comprises analyzing the meta data. Method.   6. The method of claim 5, wherein the meta data comprises a content reference identifier.   7. The method of claim 6, wherein the content reference identifier points to a further document and the method comprises searching the further document for the search query.   3. The method of claim 2, wherein the search results only include data objects that match the query and that have been received from at least one content provisioning service to which the first peer is subscribed. Method.   9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the data object has meta data associated with the data object, and information regarding the content supply service that provided the data object is the data. A method that can be derived from the meta data associated with an object.   The method of claim 1, wherein the data object comprises meta data, and retrieving the data comprises analyzing the meta data. The method of claim 1, wherein the data source is
(A) a peer in the peer-to-peer network;
(B) a cable broadcast provider;
(C) a terrestrial broadcast provider;
(D) with a satellite broadcast provider;
A method that is at least one of the following.   A computer programmed to perform the method of claim 1. A device for retrieving data in a peer-to-peer network connecting peers, the device receiving a data object from a data source; a storage device storing the data object; A central processing unit,
(A) forming a private network with at least one further peer connected by said peer-to-peer network, wherein said further peer is at least one criterion determined by said device The filling,
(B) submit a search query to the private network;
(C) receiving a result from the further peer, wherein the result matches the query;
As programmed, the equipment.   A computer program product for programming a computer and enabling the computer to perform the method of claim 1.

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